Dodge WC question

[Jan Mostek]

David, be pleased. The same habits, the same hobbies, it means the same people :-)
Best regards, Jan

[Lynn Eades]

Can some explain to me how those early jeeps, trucks etc. were sent to Russia.
What were the basic circumstances, and by what route etc.

[Jan Mostek]

Lynn, it is a theme for the book. I am not an expert, but there were three main ways: All the trucks were delivered under Lend Lease Act signed in Congres at 1941 (having signed this Act the USA in fact stopped it´s neutrality and joined the other Allieds against Hitler´s Germany). All the goods (perhaps with the exemption of planes) was delivered by convoys. Everything from locomotives over jeeps, uniforms and also gasoline or meat cans. There were three main ways, North, via UK, then over Arctic sea and Barents sea to ports of Archangels or Murmansk, where the goods was overloaded on trains, East way, from ports on US west coast around Kamchatka and Sakhalin to Vladivostok, then again overloaded on trains and continued on Siberian Railroad, and the South way, by ships to Persian Gulf then on trucks over Iran mountains to Teheran. It it very likely that fom Persian gulf the trucks were drived, not loaded. Best regards, Jan Mostek.

[motto]

The USSR was attacked by German (and Rumanian) forces in July 1941 and immediately found itself in dire peril. If the Lend/Lease act was also signed in 1941 there is no mystery that US vehicles of 1942 vintage were in Russian hands even if only for evaluation.

Logically, what eventually became a torrent of materiel flowing to the USSR started off as a trickle and quite likely earlier than generally thought.

Where was the photo of all those trucks taken Jan? There must be a thousand or more in that park. If 90,000 Studebakers were sent to the USSR this photo gives an inkling of the scale of the operation.

David

[Jan Mostek]

I do not know the location of a Study tanker. The semitrailer crash was taken somewhere in Iraq or Iran mountains, the big vehicle park picture was taken in russian town named Mozhaisk which is about 100km eastward from Moscow. Further details (dates etc) are unknown to me.Cheers, Jan

[Eduard Sorokin]

The Studebaker Tank truck is Russian BZ-35s Refuelling Truck.
Most probably, this particular truck was photographed, when it was in post-War use, because this truck have civilian pattern Registration plate on it's rear.

[Dusonn]

Hello,
I have just stumbled accross this thread and have another picture of the converted Dodge vehicle with better rear detail. The crew consists of col. Vladimir Prikryl, the commander of 2nd Czechoslovak airborne brigade in USSR. The picture was taken in 1944.